The Hero and the Pirate
by thejboy88
Summary: Thanks to the efforts of the young hero, Link, the world has been saved from the terrible schemes of Ganon. But, as he spends time on his home island of Outset, he considers the adventures he's had, alongside a certain young pirate Captain.


If one was asked to describe this one moment, using one word, it would have had to be "peaceful". This was not a place that many on the island came to, and for that, he was thankful. Link, a young boy raised on the island of Outset, had endured a trying year, ever since his sister, Aryll, had been kidnapped many months ago. He'd done much in his quest to bring her back, joined a crew of pirates, fought off strange creatures he'd never even heard of, and had, at the end of it, achieved something few would have ever thought possible for one such as him: He'd saved the world.

True, he had not done it alone, but there was the truth. This young boy, fresh off his home island, had been responsible for saving the world from the machinations of an evil wizard. He wondered aloud just how many people out there were truly aware of just how close the world they knew had come to destruction. He'd never sought to be a hero, a saviour of the people, but fate, it seemed, had different ideas for him. Still, he was content with the fact that, after all the things he'd seen and done, the reason he left his home in the first place had been achieved. Aryll, his beloved sister, was home, safe and sound.

Right now, Aryll was settling back into their home, tended to by their Grandmother. She'd had a traumatizing experience out there in the world, and it would take time for her to recover. As for Link, he'd chosen to unwind after all of this travels by coming here, a place far away from his village, almost on the other side of the island. High in the hills and surrounded by dense forest, this secluded glade had once been a dangerous place, inhabited by fearsome creatures. Such things were of little concern to Link now, not after all the beasts he had brought down since leaving. He stared gown at the small pond in the middle of the clearing, quietly sitting on a large rock next to it, simply enjoying the peace and quiet after all he'd been through.

That is, until he heard a rustling from among the trees behind him. He turned around, expecting some beast of the woods to emerge and threaten him. Instead, what he saw was a girl, about his age, with a dark tan and wearing her usual garb of blue vest with white shorts and a distinctive red scarf. Her blonde hair was held upwards and she was looking at Link with a look of slight annoyance. Link though merely gave this newcomer a small smile as she stepped forward and spoke.

"So, this is where you've been hiding, eh?"

Tetra, the Captain of the crew of pirates that had aided Link in his quest, was perhaps his closest ally during his entire adventure. Though even he had to admit to himself that her involvement was more than a little guilt-induced, with his sister having only been captured after having been mistaken for the young Captain. Still, he'd put that misunderstanding behind him a while back, so to him, Tetra was now a good friend of his. He chuckled to himself at the sight of her still-irritated face as she stepped forward.

"Nice to see you too," he replied.

Knowing her as he did, he had no doubt that she'd respond to that with some snarky comment of some sort. And even now, as she opened her mouth, that was what she seemed about to do. However, as her eyes darted past him and towards the pond he was sitting next to, her expression become one of a smile. She walked past the young boy and sat down on the grass at the edge of the pond, unbuckling her brown sandals as she did so. Link observed her as she removed these before plunging her feet into the pond's cold water.

"Ah, much better!" she remarked.

Her expression then became an annoyed one once more as she turned to see Link looking at her with a degree of confusion over this rather uncharacteristic behaviour, leading her to narrow her eyes at him a little.

"Don't look at me like that! I've spent most of my life at sea, not hiking up mountains like I had to do to get here. My feet are killing me after that."

Link shrugged his shoulders, unable to really argue with that, and the two remained in silence for a few minutes afterwards, the only sounds being that of the wind through the trees and the unmistakeable chirping of birds in their branches. Eventually though, Tetra turned her head around and looked at her fellow adventurer.

"So why ARE you out here anyway?"

Link looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.

"I...we...have been through so much over the last year. Barely a day went by when we weren't fighting for our lives, or trying to stay afloat during some sea storm. And that's only if you don't count all the rest of it. The monsters, Ganon..."

He looked away from the pond and towards the young Captain, his face a serious one.

"...and you, Princess."

Tetra turned away from him after hearing that, though Link could see that her face had contorted into a grimace.

"Don't call me that."

In truth, Link couldn't blame her for still being somewhat uneasy about what the two of them had discovered about her. During their travels they had unearthed the secret of her identity, that she was, in fact, the long-lost Princess, Zelda. It was through revealing her true self that they had united to defeat the evil Ganon and save everyone. But, Tetra had opted to revert back to how he saw her now, her pirate self, when all was said and done. It was hard to say how she truly felt about the matter. So, in a move he was unsure of, he decided to enquire about it.

"I understand it's a little overwhelming. But still, it is who you are."

Tetra turned to face him once more, her face now one of both annoyance and even a little anger.

"No. Tetra is who I am. It is who I've chosen to be. Zelda may be what destiny and all that stuff wanted me to be, but that doesn't decide my life for me. I was raised as Tetra. I've lived my life as Tetra. I live my life on the seas, as a pirate, not as some Princess. As far as I'm concerned, Zelda is a stranger."

Link nodded at that. Having become good friends with this girl, the absolute last thing he wanted to do to her was to tell her how her life should be. And she was right, having never even suspected what her true identity was, he couldn't blame her for wanting to reject it on some level, no matter how useful she was when battling Ganon. His ears pricked up when he heard her voice speak up again.

"Besides..."

He watched her as she raised one of her exposed arms, pointing to it with the other.

"...do you have any idea how many months at sea I had to spend to get a tan this good? No way am I giving that up".

In spite of how serious their conversation had been mere moments before, Link and Tetra couldn't help but chuckle at that, thus relieving them of the tension they'd both felt at it. When they'd both finally calmed down, they took a moment to relax for a bit, spending some time in utter silence as they took in the beautiful surroundings. Every once in a while, to pass the time, Tetra would kick the waters of the pond, sending droplets splashing away from her. Eventually though, Link broke the silence.

"You're probably right. I don't think you'd really get much done as a Captain if you were stuck in a dress like that all the time."

Tetra chuckled again upon hearing that, turning to look at him.

"I'll say. Who'd honestly put me in a thing like that anyway?"

It was here that Link considered something as he heard her ask that question. He turned away from her, hoping to hide the slight blush that appeared on his cheeks as he considered it. Unfortunately for him, Tetra had noticed this rather uncomfortable look on his face and was now staring at him inquisitively for it. He knew she was going to ask him about it sooner or later, so he decided to just go ahead and say it, although he had a hard time getting his words in order as he did so.

"Well...um...I don't know...I thought you looked...well..."

Tetra, being the intelligent girl she was, soon realised what it was that she was about to say to her. Her expression changed into a somewhat warm one as she kept her eyes on him.

"That's really sweet of you, Link. But..."

Her face then suddenly became one of annoyance.

"...I have a reputation to uphold. So if you say something like "I think you look pretty in a dress", then I swear I'm throwing you overboard the moment we get back on the ship".

Link tightened his lips together, heeding her words and stopping himself from saying the words that they both knew he was going to say. After this however, Tetra's eyes began to widen, as though she'd just realised something important. And sure enough, she looked away from Link to the sky, where she could see that the sun was beginning to set. That told both of them that it was getting late and that it would probably be a good time to head on back to the village. Realising this, Tetra pulled her legs out of the pond and stood up, picking up her sandals as she did so.

As she began to walk past Link, who was still sitting on his rock, she stopped. Link looked up at her as a somewhat mischievous expression grew on her face. Link tilted his head in confusion over this and was about to ask her about it, but before he could, he was taken aback by Tetra leaning over to him and planting a kiss upon his cheek. The boy's face morphed into the brightest shade of red anyone had ever seen him be, as he stood there, utterly motionless and feeling her soft lips upon his skin. After what seemed like an eternity for the youth, he felt Tetra pull away from him. He looked up at her, his face bearing an idiotic grin.

Before he could respond to this though, he was shaken out of his dream-state by Tetra delivering a quick and sharp punch to his right arm. His face grimaced with pain as he grasped his arm in a vain attempt to make it hurt less.

"OW! Wha...why...what...?"

He could barely get a word in before Tetra gave him his answer.

"Oh, don't worry. That's just to make sure you don't tell the crew."

Link sat there with a look of utter confusion on his face, trying desperately to grasp exactly what had just happened. He then took on a look of annoyance as he let out a sigh, resigning himself to her terms. She gave a brief smirk at this before continuing on her way. Link didn't really know where he would stand with this girl in the long run. He'd certainly felt close to her after everything they'd been through, and after what had just happened, there was no doubt in his mind that she felt a similar way towards him. At the very least, he could take solace in the fact that it would be interesting to see how this would all play out for the two of them.

He knew now that it would soon be time for the two of them to return to her ship, ready to return to the life he had been leading for so long, that of adventure out on the great ocean. He did not lament this, as he'd grown quite fond of that life in spite of it's dangers, and like the eager child he was, he felt nothing but enthusiasm at the possibilities of what new challenges and discoveries awaited him, Tetra and the rest of the crew out there. Now though, he merely kept his gaze on her as she walked away from him, stopping just short of the tree-line to put her sandals back on before looking back at him.

"We leave with the next tide. Don't forget to give your sister and Grandmother a goodbye before we go."

Link raised his eyebrow and smiled at her before responding.

"Is that an order, Captain?"

Tetra's expression became a rather flirtatious one, and she gave one of her trademark winks as she looked at the young boy.

"My dear Link. I'll be giving you orders till the day you die."

Link chuckled at that and, in a move he knew was sure to earn him another thump on the arm from her later, gave his response.

"Aye-aye...Princess."


End file.
